]]>Say goodbye to Roger Ebert‘s rebootedAt The Movies. The movie review show is in danger of cancellation at the end of this season. When Ebert revived the program, he did so by paying out of pocket. Ebert explains on his blog that he and his wife footed all the bills. “We paid for the pilot. We paid for the titles. We paid for the set, the lighting, and all of the salaries … lunch on taping days, everything.”

That’s not to say that the program is officially dead in the water. There’s a chance it could remain on the air if the program finds an underwriter with deep enough pockets. Let’s just go ahead and cross Bam Margera off the list of potentials. (Ebert’s Blog)

You would think making three feature length internet video critiques of the Star Warsprequels would be the dorkiest thing anyone could do, but Raynor may take the Nerd With Way Too Much Free Time On His Hands Award (The NWWTMFTOHH-y) at the end of the day. That’s because he wrote a 108 page novella (?) critiquing Red Letter Media’s critique of The Phantom Menace. That’s right, 108 pages dedicated to tearing down a ‘fan’ review. Here’s a scintillating sneak peak:

Throughout his review, [Red Letter Media’s Mike] Stoklasa relies on the same few tricks again and again. He asks stupid questions which the movie has already answered. He denies simple truths that were made clear to everyone. He repeatedly makes false or unsupported claims that increase the amount of negativity in his review, which will stick in people’s minds even if he carefully retracts his statements later.

Ho boy. I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

Will this become a King of Kong style rivalry, where each combatant must produce a longer, more time consuming critique of the other’s arguments? I happen to be a fan of Red Letter Media’s reviews, but I won’t pass judgement on this work in terms of content. That’d be unfair: I won’t read the full thing, because I made a New Years’ Resolution not to completely waste my life in 2011. So for me, I’m just comforted by the fact that there is no ceiling to the amount of geekery one man can achieve.

]]>http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/108-page-defense-of-star-wars-the-phantom-menace-is-pure-geekonium/feed/6Jar JarIF MOVIE POSTERS USED BAD REVIEWShttp://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/if-movie-posters-used-bad-reviews/
http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/if-movie-posters-used-bad-reviews/#commentsWed, 05 Aug 2009 17:00:00 +0000Don't you hate when you're really revved up to see a movie based off its awesome trailer only to find that the best part of the movie IS the trailer? That's because the studio didn't allow the press to review the movie in advance. They know they have a crappy product and any bad reviews could hurt their opening weekend box office.Nowadays, early buzz is as important to a film as the star whose name appears above the title. A bad review could snowball into bad word of mouth and then Twitter gets a hold of it and the opening weekend is shot. Have a look at the recent releases of Funny People and Bruno. Both were anticipating to stack dollars into the stratosphere but due to early complaints about issues with length and penises (I feel ya) the films underperformed (that's how I roll).

]]>Don’t you hate when you’re really revved up to see a movie based off its awesome trailer only to find that the best part of the movie IS the trailer? That’s because the studio didn’t allow the press to review the movie in advance. They know they have a crappy product and any bad reviews could hurt their opening weekend box office.

Nowadays, early buzz is as important to a film as the star whose name appears above the title. A bad review could snowball into bad word of mouth and then Twitter gets a hold of it and the opening weekend is shot. Have a look at the recent releases of Funny People and Bruno. Both were anticipating to stack dollars into the stratosphere but due to early complaints about issues with length and penises (I feel ya) the films underperformed (that’s how I roll).

Paramount has supposedly decided to handpick the websites and critics who would be allowed to review the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra in order to avoid any caustic write-ups. We thought it would be refreshing if the studios were just honest for a change and wore their bad reviews like a badge of honor. Like when Billy Madison got all the kids to piss their pants.

Take a look below at our gallery from an alternate universe… where COMPLETELY REAL negative reviews are the hallmark of movie posters: